Diller’s ‘90s-Era Fever Dream May Be Local TV’s Path To Future Relevance
At the end of the 1990s, Barry Diller — already a media legend — took a bold swing at reinventing local television. Through his USA Broadcasting group, he introduced the CityVision model: independent TV stations offering hyper-local, must-see programming that mixed original entertainment, lifestyle shows, live local sports, and a fresh approach to localism — all free over the air.
It was a daring pivot away from the syndicated reruns and generic newscasts clogging most local airwaves. The pilot effort at WAMI-TV channel 69 in Miami featured shows like The Times (a lively news-meets-lifestyle magazine hosted by a fresh-faced Ben Mankiewicz), Generation ñ (targeting Miami’s Latin youth culture), Ocean Drive (mirroring the glossy local magazine), and youth-driven entertainment blocks — all produced locally. There were even high-profile local personalities like ex-NBA, then Miami Heat star Rony Seikaly hosting segments.
Crucially, Diller’s CityVision stations also secured broadcast rights to live local professional and college sports, including Major League Baseball and NBA games. WAMI, for instance, aired Miami Heat NBA and Florida Marlins MLB games. Live sports gave CityVision stations a powerful appointment-viewing magnet — a way to draw regular audiences while building a real sense of hometown connection.
Diller imagined a network of independent stations breathing life back into "local TV" — a striking contrast to the increasingly cookie-cutter world of national networks and formulaic local newscasts. Critics at the time called it a moonshot — expensive, risky, and maybe a little naïve. In the end, CityVision faltered financially, with the stations sold off to Univision by 2001.
Yet now, looking at the local broadcast landscape in 2025, it’s hard not to think Diller was simply too far ahead of his time.
Today’s local TV stations are facing a crisis of relevance. Traditional linear TV viewing is plummeting, with the latest Nielsen data showing a 12% year-over-year decline. Streaming services have overtaken cable TV in viewership share. Worse, younger audiences — the 18–34 demographic so prized by advertisers — are abandoning local stations altogether.
Meanwhile, the product most stations offer — 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts locked into the same basic rundown since the 1970s — feels increasingly stale. Generic syndicated daytime shows and rerun-heavy prime time schedules do little to build loyalty or relevance with local communities.
And yet, the irony: local TV stations have a golden asset that streaming giants can’t easily replicate — physical presence in local communities, trusted brands, and valuable broadcast spectrum licenses.
Diller’s CityVision model, updated for today’s realities, could offer a way forward.
Imagine if stations re-committed to being essential hubs for their cities — not just with newscasts, but with creative, locally produced programming that spoke directly to the culture, flavor, and issues of their communities. Imagine daytime schedules filled with original local lifestyle shows, culture coverage, youth-oriented programs, and partnerships with local influencers. Imagine bringing back a wider array of live local sports — minor league baseball, emerging college conferences, local soccer clubs, women's sports — the kind of games increasingly being overlooked by national sports networks as they consolidate around only the biggest brands.
Importantly, today's production technology — from mobile HD cameras to inexpensive live streaming setups — makes high-quality local content and sports production far cheaper and easier than during the CityVision era. There’s even data showing that distinctive, local-first content remains a critical advantage as more media consumption shifts to nationalized platforms.
Of course, the economics are challenging. Original production and sports rights cost money. But so does losing audience share year after year. Rebuilding local loyalty through genuinely useful, interesting, and even entertaining programming could be the best way to stabilize — or even grow — broadcast TV’s future footprint.
In the late 1990s, Barry Diller saw that a return to authenticity, creativity, and genuine localism — including local sports — might save free broadcast television. He was right — just too early.
Today, amidst cratering viewership and endless sameness across stations, local TV finally seems ready for Diller’s vision of its future. The only question is: will today’s station owners be bold enough to try, before irrelevance beckons?
Local News To Peruse
FCC’s Carr Says Regulator Wants To ‘Empower Local Broadcasters’ - George Winslow [TVTech]
New York Mets’ Broadcaster SNY Is Exploring A Potential Sale - Lauren Thomas [Wall Street Journal]
Cuts To PBS, NPR Part Of Authoritarian Playbook - Ari Paul [FAIR]
TV’s Been Promising ATSC 3.0, But Where Is It? - “Local Marketing Trends” Podcast [Borrell Associates]
(Re)Building A Sports Business On Local Broadcast - [TVNewsCheck]
Does Sports Still Belong In Local TV News? - Kirk Varner [TVND.com]
